SIT formed to probe land compensation fraud in NOIDA, UP govt tells SC

New Delhi, Oct 5 (IANS) The Uttar Pradesh government on Thursday told the Supreme Court that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been constituted to probe into land compensation fraud in NOIDA.

UP Additional Advocate General Ardhendumauli Kumar Prasad submitted before the apex court that the SIT will be headed by the Chairman of the Board of Revenue and comprise Commissioner of Meerut Division, along with Additional Director General of Police, Meerut Zone.

Raising eyebrows at the composition of the SIT, a bench of Justices Surya Kant, Dipankar Datta and Ujjal Bhuyan directed that the probe panel to submit its report within a period of two weeks.

In September, the Supreme Court had sought response from Uttar Pradesh government saying that "prima facie, the entire Noida set up appears to be involved" in the scam.

"There are numerous cases in which the New Okhla Industrial Development Authority (NOIDA) has paid compensation to the land owners, without any entitlement in law, prima facie for extraneous considerations…..In such circumstances, it appears to us necessary to refer the matter to some independent agency for a deeper probe and to unearth the truth."

Two officials, Virendra Singh Nagar and Dinesh Kumar Singh, had approached the Supreme Court seeking anticipatory bail after an FIR was lodged against them in 2021 in one of the cases for allegedly releasing compensation to the tune of Rs 7 crore based on tampered documents.

Issuing notice in January-February this year, the top court stayed their arrest but directed them to cooperate with the investigation. However, it opined that such large scale fraud cannot be done at the instance of one or two officers of the Authority and called for a deeper probe by some independent agency to unearth the truth. The matter will be taken up for hearing on November 2.

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